What if you're a wealthy mobster on trial and the prosecution team is trying to paint a picture of you to the jury as a super-rich hoodlum who earned millions of dollars from racketeering, seems to me like a good defense strategy would be to pretend you can't even afford a lawyer. How could you possibly be this millionaire racketeer with a public defender? And not everyone with plenty of money lives extravagant.
Under our legal system.the Prosecutor does not have the luxury of "painting a picture" He must provide evidence of any unreported income,i.e. forensic accounting reports,IRS returns,hidden bank/brokerage account statements,etc,which can be linked to a defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. If the defendant can show legitimate income,then he's better off with a high priced lawyer who would have a decent shot at getting any prosecutorial speculation suppressed during Pre-Trial motions. Like any other evidence,anything the prosecution comes up with must be disclosed in advance to the defendant under discovery,so the burden of proof is always on the side of the State or Feds.If they cannot support their theory at trial with evidence ,the defendant walks
